Piero's Ground Training Day 2

Today was a good day. Bright and sunny, no wind. Piero seemed much less angry today. It was evident in his expression. He is one stubborn pony. When I ask him to move, and boy can he move-FAST-he plays the game with me for much longer than I would like. Running around two acres gets tiring really quickly! When he finally did stop and look at me, he came right to me. Exactly what I wanted. We did this at least 3 different times today. I am hoping within a few days it takes less and less time for him to stop and face me.

Today I had him follow me for a few steps after he joined up with me. I would stop and give him verbal praise while rubbing his nose. The nose rubbing fascinates me. He, Scottie and Astro all do the same thing. Even if they do not like getting their noses rubbed, when working on ground training they will drop their heads when they hear verbal praise in preparation for that nose rub. We repeated this several times and I was very pleased with him.

We did a little bit of learning to back up with just a shake of the lead. Stopping when I stop while being lead, and staying behind my shoulder while being lead. I think he is a very intelligent, yet stubborn guy.

I also spent a few minutes working on pressure and release with head lowering. I figured that would be easy for him. I want there to be many things he does correctly while in ground training so he can receive a lot of praise.

I gave him his first really good grooming since he arrived here. Wow, what an absolutely beautiful coat this little guy has. He is a very dark dapple gray.

(I am working on a better pic of him)

An interesting observation I had while doing ground work with Piero, is the feeling that no one had ever interacted in this manner with him before. I believe this led him to feel not quite sure what to make of me.

Piero seems to be completely unaware of flexing through the poll. I've seen some of this little guy's moves, so I know he is flexible. Today I was able to get a tiny bit of flex to each side. An improvement over yesterdays stiff neck and circling. I'm going to take that with tiny baby steps because I don't want to confuse him.

This little 12.2h pony almost seems to be challenging Scottie for a leadership position. He has asserted himself above Astro in the herd, and does submit to Tango. I have not let him together with Scottie yet because of Scottie's behavior toward him just across a fence line. When Scottie runs at the fence, Piero will paw the ground and throw his head around. What a little tough guy. Unfortunately for him, Scottie is not going to back down, and size will win that one. Scottie can eat that little pony in a few bites! Hopefully that won't happen!

I'll let you know how it goes on day 3!

Loretta

clear communication
visible results